Henne Homecoming! He Was Who We Thought He Was.

Sunday offered an intriguing match up, as the Jaguars starting QB Chad Henne, was ran out of Miami during the last off-season. Henne has had some success in Jacksonville after 2nd year QB Blaine Gabbert went down with an injury in week 10, but Henne once again failed to perform in Sun Life Stadium. The Dolphins defense limited the Jags to 3 points total, in a shut down effort.

On the other end of the spectrum Dolphins 1st round rookie QB, Ryan Tannehill, had his best day statistically of his short career. Tannehill and the Dolphins offense finally clicked, in spite of missing an injured Davone Bess, and TE Charles Clay getting injured early in the game. The Jags defense simply was not able to stop the Dolphins offense, especially in the second half. Read on for a full analysis.

Offense

Week 15: JAX @ MIA

Henne

Tannehill

Dropbacks

37

30

Attempts

34

28

Completions (%)

18 (52.9%)

22 (78.6%)

Drops

1

1

Throw Aways

0

0

Batted Passes

2

0

Accuracy Percentage

59.4%

82.1%

Deep Attempts

2

3

Deep Accuracy

100%

66.7%

Sacks

2

1

Percent of Drop-backs under Pressure

37.8%

20%

Percent of Pressured Drop-backs to become a Sacks

14.3%

16.7%

Accuracy Under Pressure

54.5%

100%

Touchdowns

0

2

Interceptions

0

0

Passer Rating

73.3

123.2

Rushing Yards (Attempts)

8 (3)

52 (8)

DolFans undoubtedly had at least a small worry that Chad Henne was going to come into Sun Life and have another performance like he had against Houston earlier this year. This was not the case as Henne looked much the same as he did when he wore a familiar shade of Aqua. One area that Henne did look improved was in the turnover category. He also threw a touchdown to Justin Blackmon that was called back by penalty because of a intelligible receiver at TE. Henne also had an opportunity that was wasted by WR Cecil Shorts III, as his elbow fell out of bounds before he got his 2nd foot down in bounds.

This was a statement game for Ryan Tannehill that screamed potential, albeit against a horrible pass rushing defense, and mediocre secondary. Though it was a bit of a slow start for the Dolphins offense Tannehill got it going in the 2nd quarter with a nice touchdown off a play-action with misdirection to FB Jorvorskie Lane. Reggie Bush ran for 103 yards (2nd time this season), which includes a beautiful 53 yard run in the 3rd quarter to set up a Dolphins field goal. In the 4th quarter Tannehill would lead the Dolphins down the field for another touchdown this time on a play-action, roll out to TE Anthony Fasano. The touchdown marked Fasano’s 5th of the year. The Dolphins brought the very same play on the following extra point and Fasano caught a floater for the 2-point conversion. Brian Hartline also hit a milestone this weekend, as he broke the 1,000 yard season barrier. This makes Hartline the 8th WR to do so in Dolphins History. One area that I thought helped the Dolphins be so effective on offense was creative play calling by offensive Coordinator Mike Sherman. The Dolphins offensive line had a, seemingly routine, poor day when blocking for the run, save a play or two. ProFootballFocus.com gave the offensive line an overall -2.4 grade in run blocking. What is not routine though is Mike Pouncey’s negative day. Overall he rated out with a -3.8 performance with most of the failure in blocking for the run. This was not a blemish free day for Tannehill, as he did fumble on a play that ended up a turnover.

Dolphins Offensive Grade: A-

Jacksonville Offensive Grade: C-

Defense

On paper the Dolphins dominated Jacksonville’s offense, and for the most part they did. They only allowed 3 points, but Jacksonville missed 2 sure touchdowns opportunities and also choose to be aggressive in the red-zone on 4th down. Poor coaching lost the Jags, 9 points in easy field goals, and a penalty and a player not able to get his second foot down cost them an additional 14. The defense also gave up a 4.2 yard per carry average against the run, to a team that was down to their 4th string HB. This is a defense that has limited strong HB’s like Arian Foster to under 3 yards per carry. The Dolphins defensive line destroyed the Jags offensive line when rushing the Passer. They only got 2 sacks (one from Jared Odrick, and another from Kevin Burnett), but Cameron Wake had 6 QB disruptions (1 hit, 5 hurries) and Starks & Soliai combined for 3 QB hurries. The Dolphins brought the blitz on 12 of Henne’s dropbacks (32%), and Soliai and Dansby both were able to bat down a Henne pass at the line.

Jacksonville’s defense was not up to the task of stopping the Dolphins offense but one area that they did excel in was on the interior of the defensive line. They were able to give Mike Pouncey a lot of trouble, but Richie Incognito played very well. The Jags defensive line was very ineffective at getting to Tannehill, but when they did they forced a turnover on a fumble (this was the credited sack).